EP. 149.5 — A Look Back on Casino Night with John Krasinski 

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:04] I’m Jenna Fischer.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:05] I’m Angela Kinsey.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:06] We were on “The Office” together.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:07] And we’re best friends.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:08] And now we’re doing the Ultimate Office re-watch podcast just for you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:12] Each week we will break down an episode of the office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:19] We’re the “Office Ladies”. Lady Luck. Roll those dice, it’s “Casino Night”, everyone.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:27] Oh, baby. Yes, it is. I’m so excited for this episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:32] I had not watched this since it aired until we prepped for this episode. And Angela, oh, my gosh, it is so good.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:40] It was a so good. Really quickly before we get started, you guys. You know, we’re recording from home right now.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:46] Yep.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:47] And it’s pouring rain. So if you hear some rain, that is why.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:52] Yeah. I had to move into my daughter’s closet because the rain outside of my closet, it kind of sounded like I was tinkling the whole time. I didn’t want to sound like inappropriate. I mean, I know there’s rain, but then you know how sometimes the rain happens to come off of a gutter in a sort of waterfall esq way? Apparently, that’s what happens outside of my closet. So I’m in my, my daughter’s closet.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:18] Well, I’m in my “that’s what she shed” because all three kids are inside, and they-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:21] Loud.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:22] They’re so loud. And I’m just like, well, I can’t tell them to like not make any noise ever.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:27] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:27] OK. So here we go. “Casino Night”. I’m so excited.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:31] Season 2, Episode 22 written by Steve Carell.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:37] Steve Carell! All right. Written by Steve Carell. Directed by Ken Kwapis. This is already off to a good start. Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:43] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This is a good team.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:46] All right. Hit me with a summary.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:48] Here we go. Michael decides to hold a casino night down in the warehouse to benefit charity. However, Michael is going to have to juggle two dates. Bump, bump, bump. Also, Jim is dealing with his possible transfer to the Stamford branch, and that’s going to lead him to ponder his relationship with Pam. It’s a good one. Should we get into some-, Sam?

STING [00:02:17] Fast Facts.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:19] Yeah. Fast Facts! Fast Fact Number One: written by Steve Carell. So here’s something that maybe a lot of people don’t know. Steve also co-wrote “40 Year Old Virgin”. This is not the first thing that Steve has written. So he got to write this episode. You know, he also wrote another episode of “The Office”. Season 4, episode 7, “Survivor Man”. So we’ll get to that one. But I found an old article from the L.A. Times where Steve did an interview all about how he came to be the writer of this Season 2 finale.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:54] Lady, that is some good detective work. I love it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:58] I was very proud of myself. All right. So here’s how it went down. So Steve had the idea as a general episode that Michael should throw a casino night down in the warehouse. And he pitched that idea to Greg. And Greg said, “Oh, that would make a great setting for the finale episode”. And then I guess, remember when Steve had to fly to New York to do the “Valentine’s Day” episode?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:23] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:24] On the airplane, Steve and Greg were together and on the way there and on the way back, they sat down. They sort of plotted out together what the finale would be with this “Casino Night” idea.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:35] That’s amazing.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:35] Isn’t that incredible?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:35] So they’re on the plane and they’re outlining this episode. I love that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:40] And Greg said to Steve, why don’t you write it? You should write it. And Steve was like, “OK. Yeah. I mean, I think that’s great”. But then this is a really fun tidbit. Steve got cold feet.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:53] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:54] And he tried to get out of it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:56] So I guess this was during the time when he was still doing “Evan Almighty” on the weekends. You know, he would shoot on our show sometimes like four days a week. We would shoot him out in four days and then he would fly and on the weekends. He would be doing “Evan Almighty”. And so he flew home and he had one weekend to write this finale script. And his parents were in town visiting him at his house. And so he went into Greg’s office and he said, “There’s, I just don’t think I can do it justice. There’s no way I can do it. I should get out of it”. But Steve had this great quote where he said, I don’t know. Greg managed to talk him into doing it anyway. Like, Greg has a way where by the time he was leaving Greg’s office, he was like, “I’m writing this episode again. How did that happen? I did not get out of it”. So-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:45] That makes me smile because it’s very Greg. Greg, you know, we’ve sort of all said that he was kind of like our dad.

JENNA FISCHER [00:04:50] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:51] Although he’s not old enough to be our dad, obviously. But he had sort of that father mentor thing of like, you’ll figure it out. You’re gonna do it. It’s gonna be ok. And then you’re like, wait.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:00] It’s going to be great. I can totally see that.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:02] I came in here to tell you I’m not doing it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:04] Well, now I’m writing it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:06] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:07] But he did say he was really pumped. Like that was the other part of it was that Greg really infused him with this enthusiasm. So he was really excited. So what he did was he went home and he would write the script after his parents went to bed.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:22] Aw.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:22] So he would stay up at night and write the script, and he turned it in and he said then the writing staff did a bunch of punch ups and like they usually do write. And that’s how we got the script.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:33] Wow. Way to go, Steve. Way to like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:35] Isn’t that crazy?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:36] Man, I love that story.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:38] All right. That was a good one. Moving on to Fast Fact Number Two: this is a supersized episode.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:44] Greg said that he was doing an interview for the Chicago Tribune and he had mentioned in the interview kind of casually that he wished that the finale for Season 2 could be supersized. Well, this started a whole online petition by Office fans. They started writing in like crazy to NBC. Give Me My Remote, Northern Attack and Office Tally started these online petitions and it was the fans that got us the super-sized episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:12] That’s great. And you know what? This was before Twitter and Instagram. It was not easy to start an online petition back then.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:18] Yeah. No, you didn’t have-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:19] That was a big deal.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:20] The same outreach. And they really just like kept at it. And NBC was like, “OK”. And Greg was thrilled. Thank you so much to the Office fans for making that happen, because I could not imagine this episode being 22 minutes. There’s so much we would have missed.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:35] I wish this episode was an hour. I could’ve watched even more.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:39] I know, but I, I kind to feel like that about almost all the episodes. But this one in particular, I’m so happy with longer. That’s what she said.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:47] That’s what she said. Well, speaking of longer, this podcast is probably also going to be supersized today because, well, we’re going to have a special guest join us later.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:56] Jenna and I got to talk to someone about this episode. And this person was such a delight. Jenna, we talked for like almost an hour.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:03] We did. And we just want you guys to hear it all. So-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:07] Buckle in, it’s going to be a supersized episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:09] It is. It’s going to be jam packed.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:12] Bum, bum, bum. Wink-wink.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:16] Fast Fact Number Three: we got a lot of questions from fans about what it was like to transform the warehouse into a casino.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:23] I mean, seriously, can we talk about this for a second? Can we talk about Dunder-Mifflin’s budget for parties? I mean, as head of the Party Planning Committee, I usually had some streamers and a cake. That, I mean, and one plastic tablecloth. Like.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:38] It’s true. But then Michael takes us on a booze cruise. He throws us this casino night. Where’s he getting the money for this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:46] At 8 seconds, Jenna, you see them converting the warehouse and there’s all these extra employees. There’s giant neon signs. There’s dealers, there-. I mean, where is this budget coming from?

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:58] That I don’t know. That I don’t know. But I did reach out to Kent-apedia to find out.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:04] Love it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:05] How we transformed the warehouse into a casino. And this is what he said. He said that he hired a company that specialized in creating casinos for special events like Christmas parties or college fundraisers. I’ve been to those things. Have you? I’ve been to fundraisers that are casino nights.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:23] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:23] And, so there are these companies and they send dealers, they send all the equipment. And so he just said he hired one of those companies and then he used all the employees from the company as extras in the episode.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:35] What was this budget? I’m sorry, I can’t stop talking about the budget, but it was, it was crazy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:41] Do you think we raised more money than the party cost?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:43] No, no. It was a definitely a loss. It was a loss, for sure.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:49] Speaking of the whole casino setup, fan question from Explorin’ Lauren. She asked, “In between scenes, did you all play any poker games”? Did you, Ang? Did you play any of that games?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:01] No, I didn’t. Did you?

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:03] Oh, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:04] You did?

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:05] Oh, yeah. There were, any time that I was sitting-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:08] Well, you love poker. You love poker

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:10] I know, and it was professional dealers. So my character was stationed at the poker tables too, so whenever I was in the background of any scenes. I was sitting at a poker table and we played poker. It was like the greatest time. I had the best time.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:24] I mean, I have a memory of like sitting and watching you guys play cards because I really didn’t know how to play poker. I only just learned. I’m not great. I mean, I always think I can win with a pair of threes. I’m that-, I’m basically Phyllis.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:36] You can.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:39] I know. But I’m basically, you know, Phyllis. Like, “Oh, look, the one with the flower. One. Yay”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:45] Clovers.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:47] The clovers. But a lot of you guys were poker players. I mean, Rainn had a poker tournament, didn’t he? In his garage or something. You guys all went and?

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:55] Yeah. It was the people who played the most together outside of work. We’re me, Rainn, David Denman, Chris Workman and Ed Nielson Junior. Those guys were on the crew. And I’m trying to think who else? But there was, there was a little group of us. Like six or eight of us. And we would go to Rainn’s garage and play poker on the weekends.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:10:14] Yeah, so I love that you guys were doing that, in between scenes. I’m sure I just was sitting there being chatty.

JENNA FISCHER [00:10:22] Well, listen, I think we should take a break and get into this episode because like we said, it is, it’s a long one. So we’ll be right back.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:10:37] OK, we are back. And let’s get into this episode Jenna. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. And at 36 seconds, Dwight’s in a tuxedo. Game on. It’s starting.

JENNA FISCHER [00:10:48] Oh yeah. He explains that it’s a family heirloom. His grandfather was buried in it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:10:53] Yeah. So that’s special. And now you have a Jim Pam prank, right? Can we talk for one quick second about the fact that Pam winks at Jim with Roy right there?

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:08] I have that down. I have it down. So, yes, Roy and Pam, they’re talking about casino night. This starts a whole conversation about who can win roulette.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:19] Right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:20] Jim says he can win by using mind control.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:23] Right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:23] And Dwight says, “Oh, really? You can do mind control. Why don’t you try moving the coat rack”. So he stares at it and it moves to everyone’s surprise. And then Pam winks at Jim. And I wrote down to discuss how do we feel about this?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:42] It’s a big wink. It’s not like-, and Roy is right there.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:46] Is he?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:47] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:47] Does he not have eyes? Is he not?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:50] Is Roy like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:51] Looking at his fiance.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:52] What the hell are you winking at, Jim? So the flirt is starting early on. This is early.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:58] For sure.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:59] Early in the evening. It’s not even the evening. It’s the day. The flirt is starting.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:03] I had a few in question from Batya who said, Was the wink Pam gave Jim scripted”? Yes, it was.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:10] I was going to say absolutely.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:12] It was. It was in the script. I actually, I have the script from this episode, Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:16] I love that you have the script. What did it? So you could go to it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:19] Yeah, I looked it up and it’s right there, “It says Pam winks at Jim”. I had another fan question, too, from Brittany, “In the cold open, Jenna, did you actually move the coat rack with an umbrella”? No.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:34] No, no, and Jenna?

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:37] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:38] In a time capsule called the “DVD Commentary”, you talk about it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:42] Oh, I went into it?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:43] Yeah. You went into it. You said that there was a crew member that had a string.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:49] It was like a clear, like fishing line. We tried to have me do it. We tried to have me use the little, even like tried to have me use that string thing. And you just saw my arm moving too much. I was too far away. I, like the, the umbrella with the hook on the end, it couldn’t, it, I couldn’t even reach the coat rack with it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:09] I was going to say the coat rack is actually further away from you than people realize.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:13] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:13] It’s actually quite far from you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:15] But the optical illusion makes it kind of seem like I could have. But no, I, I wasn’t really doing it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:21] And then Pam is very proud of herself because she has a silent talking head where she’s showing off the umbrella. And Jenna, you’re like as Pam, you are beaming. You are so proud of that moment.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:36] I know. Well, I think I meant, you know, that wasn’t set up, that whole idea of mind control. I think the idea of that was that in the moment, Pam figured out how to have Jim’s back.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:47] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:48] And so I think she’s like, that’s where the wink comes from. And that’s why she’s so proud.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:53] Exactly. She’s super proud. They know Dwight was gonna pick the coat rack. Pam didn’t know that Jim was gonna set that up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:59] No.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:00] So, yeah. She’s like, “Look what I did. Oh my God’.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:02] I know. I had another fan question, Angela. This is from Chelsea Glover. “Were there any deleted scenes that you’re sad, didn’t make the final cut”? And actually, there is an original cold open to this episode. This little prank bit with the coat rack. This was actually originally meant to go after the credit sequence and there’s a whole cold open that was cut out, but that you can see on the DVD extras. Did you watch it, Angela? It’s where Michael brings us into the conference room and makes us do a Dunder Mifflin themed Mad lib.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:37] Mad Libs. Yes, it’s great.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:41] Yeah. So I, I thought that was kind of cool, but we didn’t have time, so we had to cut it out.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:46] Well, listen, I have a pretty big thing to point out. I’m pretty sure a lot of you guys were thinking about it. You’re gonna be talking about it. It’s kind of a showstopper moment.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:57] What is it?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:58] At 3 minutes, 1 second, there’s a new plant at reception.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:04] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:04] New potted plant. There is a yellow flowering plant at reception. This is a big deal, guys.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:12] We got so much mail about this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:15] We got no mail about it. I always crack up whenever Pam, I feel like it’s Pam brings in a plant and then it doesn’t live very long, but she tries.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:25] Oh.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:27] That’s my backstory. She tries to, it’s like, “Casino night. I’ll buy a plant at the, you know, at the pharmacy. They have those plants by the checkout. I’ll buy one”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:37] She’s doing her best. She’s trying to bring-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:39] She’s doing her best.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:40] Some cheer to the reception desk. Well, we have the scene where Michael is on the phone with Jan. She’s trying to explain her concerns about what’s going on with the branch, but he just invites her to casino night and she’s like, “Michael”-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:56] Yeah, she’s concerned for the branch and he wants to have this elaborate party that costs so much money.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:01] Yeah. And she’s just like, “Michael, I’m not, I’m not coming to that”. But maybe later. OK. So next up at 4 minutes, 11 seconds. Michael’s in the bullpen. He’s sitting on Pam’s desk.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:18] Mmhmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:19] He’s explaining that we’re having casino night, that the beneficiary is Boy Scouts of America and that the big winner of the night is going to get 500 dollars to donate to the charity of their choice and a mini fridge, compliments of Vance Refrigeration.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:35] Yes. To which Phyllis is so proud. Oh my Gosh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:37] So proud.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:38] If you freeze at 4 minutes, 34 seconds. Phyllis’ face. She actually sticks her tongue out. She’s so, she’s so happy that Vance Refrigeration is donating the prize. But before we get there, I have to point out a great screen grab. At 4 minutes, 14 seconds for those of you guys that have been tuning in. I talk about what I call the accountant stack. It’s how they stack the accounting department to get them in the bullpen. Right? Because we’re tucked around the corner.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:08] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:09] So you wouldn’t see us. So they would pull us out in this formation. And it’s the best screengrab of it I have seen yet. It is me at the copier with Oscar, just like two feet behind me. And then Brian like three feet behind Oscar. It is like literally we look like a row of dominoes and it’s so we could be in the scene and react.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:31] That is perfect. I remember that they would do that. And sometimes it would make no sense that everyone else was able to sit at their desks and listen to Michael. But you guys would have to get up and walk over a little bit and stand.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:45] And all hang out by the copier.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:46] During those scenes, you would have to stand the whole time.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:47] Yes. I would be so envious of people that got to sit through really long scenes because we’d just be standing by the copier.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:54] Oh, that’s a good thing when you’re rewatching these episodes for people to just know how often the accountants are standing up.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:00] Yeah. While everyone else is sitting.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:02] So that we lead into this series of talking heads where everyone explains where they would donate the money should they be the big winner for the night.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:11] Mmhmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:12] And, you know, Creed has the talking head where he says he’s gonna give the money to a soup kitchen.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:17] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:18] That has a really delicious pea soup on Thursdays.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:23] Oh, Creed. Kevin says to animals or people. Once again reminding us that he is maybe not the smartest.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:31] Angela, you have a great talking head.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:34] So much sass. I am not wanting to participate in this casino night. I say that we’re just gonna be giving money that’s from gambling. Why don’t we just deal drugs or prostitute ourselves?

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:45] Yeah, just use that money to charity.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:47] I know she is. I’m sure she’s A, not happy because she’s not getting to plan this party. B, it’s gambling and there’s alcohol. But Jenna, she shows up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:58] Well, she’s going to show up later to this Casino Night.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:01] Yeah, she does.

JENNA FISCHER [00:19:02] So this leads into one of my favorite scenes with some of my favorite lines of all time ever from the series ever.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:10] I know what you’re saying. I know. I know what you’re talking about.

JENNA FISCHER [00:19:12] Michael announces that at the end of the night, they’re going to present a giant check to some Boy Scouts. He’s so excited. That’s so him, right? He’s so delighted that they’re gonna have a giant check. And Toby’s like, “Oh, actually, Michael, that’s not true”. And then he lists the many reasons why it would be inappropriate to have kids come to a casino night. He’s like gambling. Alcohol. It’s in a dangerous warehouse. It’s a school night. Hooters is catering. Do I need to say more?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:44] Yeah. Do I need to go on?

JENNA FISCHER [00:19:45] So this leads to the classic Michael line. “Why are you the way that you are”?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:53] Michael sass. I wrote, “Michael Sass”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:00] This next line is my most absolute favorite. Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:20:03] Mmhmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:05] “I hate so much about the things that you choose to be”. I could not get through that. So that whole thing that Michael says like that, “Why are you the way that you are”? All of that was scripted. It’s in the script, word for word.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:20:20] So good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:22] Then Michael announces that he is going to donate to Afghanistanis with AIDS. Well, we got a fan question from Agusta. She said, “One of my absolute favorite scenes of all time is the Afghan Afghanistanis scene. Was any of that improvised or was that all scripted”? All right. I went to the script.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:20:42] And?

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:43] It is mostly all scripted, with the exception of one line, which is John Krasinski. He improvised, “Afghanistanis”. He was supposed to just say, “Afghanistans”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:20:58] Way to go, John. Way to go.

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:59] That was good one. Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:00] Way to put a button on it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:02] Way to put a button on it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:03] Jenna, I need to talk to you about what happens at 7 minutes. 31 seconds.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:07] Oh, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:08] Because Jim offers to watch crappy wedding bands with Pam. And she’s so happy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:14] Oh, my Gosh.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:15] She’s so happy. Well, I mean-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:17] She should be doing this with Roy. I mean, she says, Roy was going to pick the band, but now he’s too busy planning his bachelor party.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:25] I mean, how many red flags does someone need?

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:28] I don’t know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:28] She’s planning her wedding with the guy she’s in love with, that’s not her fiance.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:33] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:34] And then Jim has a line that breaks your heart. At 8 minutes, he says, “I mean, I talk to Jan about a transfer because I have no future here”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:43] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:43] He has no future there.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:45] I know. I know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:47] So now they go, you know, we’re jumping around a little. But let’s, let’s see this Jim Pam moment through. Okay, lady?

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:53] All right.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:54] They’re in the conference room. They’re watching these band videos. By the way, we got a ton of questions about Brian’s drumming.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:02] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:02] Some people wrote in.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:04] Yes. So they put in a tape and they realize, “Oh, my gosh, that’s Kevin”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:10] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:11] Kevin is in a band.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:12] Guess who came up with the band name, “Scrantonacity”?

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:15] Who?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:18] Mindy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:19] Really? That was Mindy.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:20] That was Mindy. That’s. That was her idea. That name.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:23] Well check this out. When I looked at this scene in the script, the name of the band is not Scrantonacity.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:30] Oh, yeah, what was it?

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:31] Jokers and Tokers. So I texted Brian because we got a lot of questions about is he really drumming? Is he really singing? And I also had to get to the bottom of this “Jokers and Tokers” business. Brian told me that he is actually playing and singing a Steve Miller song in the video. And I mean, he says he’s playing, but he’s really kind of faking it because he didn’t really learn to drum until later when his band had to play. Was it at Phyllis’ wedding?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:03] Yeah, he had to be onstage. Right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:05] Yeah. So he’s, he’s kind of faking his way through the song. So after they shot this whole scene of him and his band, they could not get permission from Steve Miller to use the song. So in post, they turn it into a Police tribute band and that’s when they changed the name to “Scrantonacity”. And Brian had to dub his voice singing, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”. And that’s what they ended up playing. So if you watch that video, the lyrics do not match his mouth. I didn’t notice it until after Brian told me all this stuff, though.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:37] Oh, that’s good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:39] And I caught a couple of other little tidbits based on this knowledge. Notice that at 9 minutes, 43 seconds, there’s a close up of John’s hand putting the tape into the tape player?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:51] And it says “Scrantonacity”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:53] I remember shooting that later. I remember having to do a pickup of John’s hand putting in “Scrantonacity”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:01] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:02] And then later in the warehouse, you know, Roy’s gonna come up to Kevin and he’s gonna say, “hey, I heard about your band, Scrantonacity”, right?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:12] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:12] This happens at 22 minutes and 5 seconds.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:15] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:15] The band name is said off camera. It’s Roy’s voice, but on camera is Kevin. And they had to dub that, too.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:23] That was some good behind the scenes tidbits for Scrantonacity, lady.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:27] I know. Thank you, Brian Baumgartner.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:29] OK, so we’re jumping around a bit, but back at 8 minutes, 16 seconds, we have Darryl in Michael’s office. He’s like, look, I’m not having fire eaters in a paper warehouse.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:38] Why does he want fire eaters at a casino night anyway?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:41] Let me tell you, he would have a full circus in there if he could. He wants it bigger, louder, crazier. And then Dwight enters for, quote, protection.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:51] Oh boy.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:51] And then there’s this very funny exchange where we learn that Darryl has taught phrases to Michael to help him with his interracial conversations. We learned about “dinka flicka”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:02] Dinkin Flicka.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:03] This handshake and, and Darryl has a great talking head and Jenna, I am pretty sure that this is Craig Robinson’s very first talking head. I think in this episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:14] I think it is. Well, Angela, I looked up Dinkin Flicka on Urban Dictionary.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:19] You did?

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:21] Oh yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:22] Does it reference “The Office”?

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:22] Yes. It says, “Made popular in a recent episode of the office, Dinkin Flicka roughly translates to ‘That’s life’ or ‘C’est la vie’”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:30] I sort of remember that us talking about that Dinkin Flicka and that Steve had just made it up. I don’t know if I’m remember that wrong.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:37] Yeah, he just made it up.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:37] But I think that is just out of Steve Carell’s mind.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:40] Also “fleece it out”. That was another one. That also in the Urban Dictionary. I kind of love that these two made-up phrases are now in the Urban Dictionary as sort of fictional phrases.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:53] Way to go, Steve Carell.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:55] Way to go, Steve Carell.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:56] Well there is some delicious Pam sass coming up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:59] Uh oh yes. OK.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:00] All right. I love this bit so much. I. This is one of the things our show did that I love where we find out information that, that something a character has been doing for years. But we didn’t know it. And this is one of those moments. So at 10 minutes, 58 seconds, Carol Stills calls and Pam’s like “Michael, Carol’s on the phone” and she does this thing where she doesn’t let it through right away. She’s like, “Still me. Still me”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:25] Yes. Because she has to-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:27] She says, “Michael is better at the second attempt”. He’s better at his second pass with people.

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:32] Because the first time he says some ridiculous thing. What? Did you haven’t written down? What does he say to Carol the first time?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:39] He says, “Hey, Carol, how’s the real estate biz? Is it real good”?

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:44] And Pam’s like, “Still me”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:48] And then the second time is totally normal guy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:51] He’s like, “Hey, Carol, what’s up”? It’s so good. And then the same thing happens. This is a great scene. So Michael’s on the phone with Carol and she just needs one last signature for his mortgage insurance. That’s why she’s calling. But he tells Carol, “You should come to casino night”. And she’s like, “Yeah, to, for the, to get the signature or”? She’s, it’s a little bit, it’s a little confusing what he’s asking. Right?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:17] And Nancy did such a great job with that of just being like, “Wait. To your party? That’s where I get the signature”?

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:22] Yes. We should remind people, guys. Carol Stills, played by Nancy Carell, Steve’s wife, in real life. So then the other line, Pam’s putting through another call. It’s Jan. And uh oh, Jan is calling to tell Michael. “Michael, I would love to come to casino night”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:43] I feel like you can watch Steve as Michael. Like, literally break into a sweat.

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:51] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:52] He’s like, “Holy crap. When in a million years did I think that I have two women on the line who had both just said yes to me within seconds of each other”?

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:02] Two queens on casino night.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:03] Gonna have to drop a deuce.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:05] Oh, boy. So that’s, that’s a big cliffhanger. We go into like what would normally be a commercial break right there. Should we go into a break?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:13] Let’s go into a break. Cause now we’re gonna get into the casino game. And a lot, a lot is going to happen. All right. We are back and we’re at the casino.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:27] The casino is open. Gambling is happening.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:31] It’s open for business. At 13 minutes, 22 seconds. It is happening, Jenna. You are wearing quite the dress. Actually, everyone-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:39] Oh, everyone got very dressed up for this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:42] We got a ton of mail about your dress. Matt Mayb said, “How many different dresses did you try on before you settled on the blue one that you wore”? Danny Thurgood said, “My wife has a theory that the dress Pam wears was an old bridesmaid’s dress that Pam had in her closet”. Danny. I wrote on a note card, “Pam in a bridesmaid’s dress”? Question mark. It really looks like a bridesmaid’s dress. It really does.

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:06] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:29:06] And then her Original Guss G”irl said, Whose decision was it for Pam to wear her watch with her gown? It was a subtle but great costuming and character choice”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:17] I love all of these questions. You guys are so observant. All right. Let me start by saying Angela and Danny’s wife, you guys are correct.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:29:29] Was it a bridesmaids dress?

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:31] Well, it was, that was the inspiration when I met with Carrie, our wardrobe designer, about this outfit that Pam would wear. We said, you know what, we want her to be dressed up in like a cocktail dress. But on Pam’s salary and just thinking about Pam’s life, when would she ever buy a cocktail dress? And she’s certainly not going to buy one just for casino night. So we had a whole conversation where we were like, you know what? I think she rewears an old bridesmaids dress. That’s the fanciest thing she has in her closet. And that’s what she wears. I’ll have you know, that was the first dress I tried on.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:11] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:11] We loved it. She had a whole rack of dresses and I tried them all on. That was our favorite. And we sent that picture to Greg and he approved it immediately. It was like a winner from the start.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:23] Well, that is so great and perfect and really answers my burning question. ‘Cause I was like, that, I feel like I wore a bridesmaid dress that looks similar to that to a wedding in the 90s.

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:35] Yes. By the way, I love that watch question, Angela, because that was a discussion. It was a discussion that Pam wears that watch every day. Most the time you can’t see it. But everyday day, Phil Shea would come up to me and he had a little tray and it had my watch and it had my Pam wedding ring on it or my Pam engagement ring on it. And you pick it up, you put it on first thing in the morning, take it off at the end of the night. And so I’ve always been wearing that watch, but you can not normally see it because it’s underneath my sleeve. Right? So we had a whole discussion. Does Pam wear her watch with her fancy dress or not? And we thought, listen, guys, this is back before iPhones. You didn’t have the time in your back pocket the way you do now. And we discussed that Pam does not have a fancy watch. So she’s got one watch and she wore it. And I can’t believe someone noticed that detail. Thanks for noticing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:31:30] Pam would wear her watch. That made such sense to me. I love it. I feel like she also probably has a pair of Keds on standby.

JENNA FISCHER [00:31:38] She probably does.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:31:38] So she could change into. I love that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:31:41] Angela, what about your dress? You’re wearing a black dress, which is in your color scheme. But I mean, it’s, it’s a little bit, it’s a bit-. What? Sultry. It’s somewhat tight.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:31:54] It’s an LBD. For sure. It is a little black dress. I mean, I have a little bit of cleavage.

JENNA FISCHER [00:32:01] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:32:01] A little bit.

JENNA FISCHER [00:32:02] A little bit.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:32:03] It is a tight little black dress. I feel like she probably wore it to a funeral and maybe it had some lace attachment over her [French]. But maybe she’s feeling a little, a little saucy. So she was like, “I’m not gonna wear this sweater that goes with it”. I do have a sweater that comes in and out of scenes. I don’t know if you notice at right at the top, I’m holding it. And then later on, you see me wearing it. But yeah, I know I’m wearing a little black dress. I have to point out, it’s jumping around, but I have a great catch of someone breaking character.

JENNA FISCHER [00:32:38] Oh.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:32:39] And that someone is me. At 13 minutes, 24 seconds, there is a shot of Angela Martin talking to Meredith. And you see at the very beginning of the moment, maybe I’m aware that cameras panning over. And so I have a solemn look. And then clearly, I think camera has gone off of us. And then I just go-. I just like start gesturing. And I think I can make out the words “I have to pee” or something.

JENNA FISCHER [00:33:04] Oh, my gosh. What else is going on? Are you in the background of another scene?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:33:08] I’m in the background of an establishing shot of you and Roy gambling, and then it pans over to the rest of us. Jim’s at another table. I’m talking to Meredith. I’m holding my sweater. And at the very beginning of it, I have a solemn face. And then within seconds, I think the camera’s gone. I just start being chatty. It’s 100 percent me just talking.

JENNA FISCHER [00:33:28] Oh, my gosh.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:33:30] All right. Should we get into it now? Let’s get into it. Creed is stealing poker chips. Carol has arrived. Dwight is Michael’s wingman, I guess. And Toby just beat Michael at cards.

JENNA FISCHER [00:33:41] Yes. And I have a few fan questions about that stuff. The first one comes from Jessica Merkner. She says, “Dwight is a terrible wingman. His inability to warn Michael that Jan is coming is great. Was any of that improvised”? All right. So I looked at the script. And, you know, when Carol first arrives and Dwight comes up and says “Code Remax is here, but no sign of Lan Gevinson”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:08] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:09] It’s so good. That second part was improvised. So I’m not sure-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:14] That’s so good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:14] I know. I’m not sure if Rainn did it or if it was like one of the writer pitches on set because we would have writers on set that would pitch us jokes. But the original line was supposed to be “No sign of date number two”, which is also very funny because it is in no way coded. And also out loud, he says Michael has a second date.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:35] All right. So Jenna, at 18 minutes, 26 seconds, I have a card called “Kiss, Slap, Smirk”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:44] Oh. This is a classic. This is a classic Dwight Angela moment. It’s when Dwight is playing craps. And Angela walks up in her little black dress and she’s like, “What are you doing”?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:55] And they’re very formal with one another, you know?

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:57] Yes, very formal.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:58] And he’s like, “Angela, I need to roll an eight. And everyone wins”. And she says, “So roll an eight”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:35:03] And then he does.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:35:06] Yes!

JENNA FISCHER [00:35:06] And he is so excited that he grabs you and he kisses you on the cheek.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:35:12] I know. And listen, even though maybe she’s happy about that, she has to slap him for being inappropriate at work.

JENNA FISCHER [00:35:19] Yes. Well Angela, we got a fan question from Heather Lindow. Sam, will you play the clip it?

HEATHER [00:35:23:00] Hi, Jenna. Hi, Angela. “Casino Night” is one of my very favorite episodes for a lot of reasons and one of them being the scene at the craps table when Dwight kisses Angela for good luck and then she slaps him. But when she turns around, her face is just perfection. She cycles through like ten emotions in a matter of like three seconds. She is horrified and thrilled and embarrassed and obviously deep down, very happy all at the same time. And I just love it. And Angela, my question is, did you nail that on the first take or did you have to do it many, many times? Thank you so much for letting me ask my question. I know everyone says this, but my sister Kim and I really are “The Office” number one fans. We just love you so much. So thank you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:06] Oh my God. Heather!  That was so sweet. I love that question so much. OK, so I was very excited about this question because I actually wrote in my journal about this scene.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:18] Oh my gosh. Of course you did.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:20] Of course I did. I wrote about it the week we filmed it. To answer your question, Heather. No, I did not get it right the first time. OK. So I wrote that I was really nervous to slap Rainn. At first, you know, my slap was kind of timid.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:32] Which makes sense because you were probably very-, you were worried about hurting him.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:37] Exactly. I don’t want to hurt him.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:39] And it wasn’t a fake slap. They told you to really slap him. That was. They weren’t, never did a phony slap.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:44 No, they wanted a real slap. And, well, I guess my timid little slap wasn’t working. So Rainn said, “Listen, Ang, just go for it. I can take it”. So I started really slapping him. And I wrote that it took us about 13 takes to get-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:04] Oh no.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:05] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:05] Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:06] That’s 13 slaps. All right. Here’s the one thing I need you guys to remember. I am 5’1. Rainn is like 6’3. So it wasn’t really easy for me to reach his cheek. And one time my aim was really off and I missed his cheek and I slapped his ear so hard, he was like, “Ow”, it actually hurt him. He said there was like a ringing in his ear. And then the other time I missed and I, I slapped and I hit his glasses and I knocked them sideways on his face.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:33] Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:34] I know. I know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:37] Well, I want to go back to something that Heather said, too, about that look on your face as you’re walking away, because it is, it is amazing. And I have the script and I looked it up and all it says is that you slapped Dwight and that you smile as you walk away from the table. I think there’s so much more going on in your face. So your character is angry that Dwight would kiss you so publicly and all of that. But what I love is that you have this little look to the camera at the very end. It’s like 18 minutes, 48 seconds.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:14] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:15] Where you sort of catch the camera catching you smiling.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:18] Right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:19] That camera catch was not in the script. Was that improvised?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:22] Yes, it was. OK, so that that just happened on the day. That little moment where I’m busted at the end. So in one of the early takes, I was walking out of frame and I just looked at camera and I quickly looked away like I was embarrassed that they caught me smiling. And our director of photography, Randall Einhorn, said “Ang, Ang, I caught it. I caught it right at the end as you’re leaving frame”. And he really helped me find that moment. Then he showed it to our director. Our director loved it. And so Randall was like, “Ang, you don’t have a lot of time to cycle through all that, but I’m gonna catch it every time if you glance to camera and quickly look away embarrassed”. So I have to thank Randall for that because he really helped me make that moment happen.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:03] I love that.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:04] Yes. All right, folks out there that love background catches. I have one more moment for you in this little scene. At 18 minutes, 51 seconds, you can really see how red the side of Rainn’s face is. And it’s because I have slapped him 13 times.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:23] Oh, well, there you have it. Heather, thank you for such a great question.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:28] Thank you, Heather. I love that question.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:31] OK, so Angela, you just described the big kind of Dwight Angela flirt moment that happens in front of everybody at the-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:40] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:41] At the casino night. So now we head over to the poker table where it is heads up between Jim and Pam. And I feel like this is the big Jim Pam flirt moment that’s public.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:52] There is so much flirting happening. Pam is basically doing the giggle hair toss move from “About Last Night”. I mean, there, it is on. It is on.

JENNA FISCHER [00:40:03] Well we had a fan question from Live Love California, “The scene at the poker table when you and John are making those faces back and forth. Was that improvised or scripted”? This is what was scripted. Those little looks between us. There was a scene description. And so what you’re seeing is John and I’s interpretation. This is what it says right after Jim’s line, “You’re bluffing”. “Pam makes a playful gesture like ‘who knows?’? Jim stares at her intensely. She smiles her best, enigmatic smile. Jim enjoys this woman so much he finally has to break eye contact and shake it off”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:41] Aw.

JENNA FISCHER [00:40:41] So that was what John and I, we had to take that note in the script and, that’s what made that scene.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:50] That’s so good. I love that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:53] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:53] I love that. Well, I have a question that’s not related to you guys flirting, but at 19 minutes, 26 seconds, what the heck? So Kevin wears glasses when he plays poker, but he doesn’t wear glasses to be an accountant?

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:07] Angela, we literally got a fan question that said the same thing. What’s up? My theory about that is that he doesn’t care about being an accountant.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:16] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:18] But as he tells us, he has won one of the satellite games in the World Series of Poker. He’s an avid poker player, this guy. He’s a different person when he’s playing poker.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:28] He’s a smart person when he’s playing poker.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:32] But also when he’s playing in his band, he wears a hat.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:35] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:36] Like when he comes to the barbecue, he’s got to have he’s got a whole persona outside of the office that is very different than what we see on a daily basis.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:43] Oh, for sure. For sure.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:45] I want to follow this guy around. I feel. Is he, is he putting us all on so he doesn’t really have to do work? What’s happening, Kevin?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:53] OK. We have to talk about 20 minutes, 3 seconds. Carol and Jan are now side by side.

JENNA FISCHER [00:42:00] Oh yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:42:00] At the bar.

JENNA FISCHER [00:42:01] Oh, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:42:02] OK. So I took a screen grab of them standing side by side. You know, I’m friends with Nancy, Steve’s wife.

JENNA FISCHER [00:42:07] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:42:08] I just adore her so much. I texted her the photo. I’m like, “Nancy, this is how I’m starting my morning”. And she was like, “Oh, my God”. She said, “First of all, wtf with my hair”. I said, “Nancy, what do you remember about shooting these scenes”? And she said, “Oh, my gosh. Well, our kids were six and three. So I had very few functioning brain cells at that point”. And I said, “Well, Nancy, what was it like working with Steve”? And she said, “Ang, I was so intimidated because he’s so good. I mean, he was really nice to me, of course. But I’ve sort of you know, I had retired and having our kids. That’s what I was doing. I was being a mom. So I felt a little rusty. But it was so much fun”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:42:52] Oh. She is so great. And Steve’s face would just light up every time she came to set, either if she was in a scene or if she was just coming by with the kids for a visit. I mean, his adoration of her was just, would go all across his face.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:09] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:09] They just were the cutest of cutie-cutes as a couple.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:12] They are an adorable couple. They are so sweet with one another. I just loved them so much. I would get so excited, too, when Nancy got to be in scenes, because we were often in hair and makeup at the same time and we would just gab and gab and gab. I just adore that lady.

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:27] So now Michael is at the craps table and he has both Carol and Jan blow on the dice for luck. Awkward.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:34] That’s so weird, so weird.

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:36] So weird. And then this is where Dwight starts peppering Jan with questions about where are you staying tonight? He’s naming all the motels. And then Dwight has this line where he’s like, “Oh, were you planning to stay with Michael”? Well, that was not in the script.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:52] Oh, it wasn’t?

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:53] No, no. I feel like that when I heard that, I went to the script to look, because I’m like, that sounds like a Rainn improv to me.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:01] That’s brilliant, Rainn.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:02] So good.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:03] And Melora’s reacton.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:04] I’m giving that to Rainn. Yes. So good. I think she was legitimately surprised that he said it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:09] Yeah, I texted Melora. I told her she’s so fantastic in this episode. You just really fill Jan’s desperation and then you fill her self-loathing. It’s, oh, it’s so layered.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:20] So now we go over to the poker table with Kevin and Phyllis. Oh boy.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:25] Mmhmm. Phyllis the flapper. Phyllis the flapper.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:28] Phyllis the flapper. He goes all in against Phyllis. And she wins with a flush. But she thought she only had Ace high. But no, she had a flush to the ace and she’s like, “I have all the clovers”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:46] I texted Phyllis and I said, “Phyllis, what do you remember about that poker game”? And she wrote me and said, “Oh, I loved the poker game. Brian’s face as Kevin was priceless when I won”. And then she wrote, “I also loved watching Pam and Jim flirt as they played because it looked real, because they’re such good actors”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:09] Aw, Phyllis.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:09] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:10] She’s the sweetest.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:10] She is the sweetest. She said, “It was a priceless episode, my love to you and Jenna”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:15] Aw.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:15] Well, listen, you know what? Jan is gonna walk outside at 22 minutes, 37 seconds, because she is just over it and she’s outside smoking. And Jim walks out and lady.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:27] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:27] I don’t know if you remember this, but at the time when this aired, so many people thought that Jim and Jan were maybe going to hook up in this moment. They were freaking out on all the message boards.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:40] Oh, my Gosh.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:43] Yeah. I remember-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:43] They were like, “Oh, no”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:44] Oh no. Are they gonna hook up? But now they’re just having a heart to heart. And then you find out the stakes for Jim. Right? That he-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:51] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:51] She’s like, “Have you told anyone”? Because he’s going to transfer. But-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:56] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:56] People thought they might hook up and they were all like, “No”!

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:00] Yeah. So now we go back inside. Bob Vance is making an announcement. He is going to announce who the big winner of the night is. He said, “It’s Creed Bratton”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:10] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:11] And he wins the refrigerator. And Creed says, “I’ve never owned a refrigerator”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:15] Oh, my gosh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:16] This is his first one.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:17] The mini fridge is his first refrigerator. So here we go, guys. We’re to the jam-tastic part of this episode. There is gonna be a big moment in the parking lot. There’s gonna be a big moment in the office. So we thought we better call John Krasinski.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:34] That’s right. We didn’t feel like we could talk about these scenes without him.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:40] How could we?

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:40] So we did. We called him and he joined us. So, guys, this is like we chitty chatted with John for a good 45 minutes. We’re gonna let it play out here for you. Enjoy.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:01] I watched an “Office” episode for the first time in so long for this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:05] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:05] I haven’t watched one for a little while now and that one in particular. That’s, that’s some heavy machinery of content.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:12] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:13] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:13] That was some heavy machinery.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:15] We just threw you in the deep end. We were like, “Here. Watch this one”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:20] Yeah. Seriously. And I was like, first of all I went through a time portal. I was like, who is that child? And I was talking about Jenna. And then I saw some furry, you know, wood nymph come in looking like me. Man, we were young once, weren’t we? Wasn’t that nice?

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:37] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:37] Well, man, that was nice. Way back then.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:39] This is the first time I’ve watched “Casino Night” since it aired.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:43] Same. Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:44] Did we watch it at Greg’s?

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:46] I think we did.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:47] We did. We did. I wrote my journal that he had a viewing party and we all went over.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:47:52] My God, you have a journal? What have I been doing with my life?

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:57] Oh John. Does she have a journal?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:58] Let me show you what my mic sits on so I can reach it because I’m shorty.

JENNA FISCHER [00:48:04] Like seven journals. Like with “Holly Hobby” on the front.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:08] John this is, that’s who I was. I mean, come on.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:48:12] Oh my God. Wait, who you were. That seems like a current journal. That is being written right now.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:19] Well, I’m writing right now.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:48:19] By the way, speak, speaking of Polly Pocket or whatever hobby, “Holly Hobby”, either one of those E’s, it made me think of that kid sister thing before I sign on. I was like I had all these like sputtering memories that were like, remember this? And I blacked out for about 20 minutes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:33] Okay. So I told on the podcast that we would do bits between scenes, kind of keep us going, that you really kept us all going. You really did. And then I said we would do this kid sister, Big Brother bit. And Jenna was like, wait, what, where did that come from? What was that about?

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:48:47] You were like 1983. Is where  it came from.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:50] I know, but John wasn’t it because there was like a doll that was about my height.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:48:55] Oh no. You were the identical replica of kid sister and they had there was a kid, what, was it Big Brother? No.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:02] No. Wait.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:03] Something.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:04] I would go, you, I would yell around the corner.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:07] No. There was a boy one and then they come out with a girl one and it looked exactly like you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:12] And I was at a store one day and saw it on a toy store shelf. And I took a photo of myself standing next to it, and I sent it to you. You were like, “Oh my god.”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:20] Oh, I remember that. Yes. But also you’re the exact size of it compared to me especially. You’re like, perfect. And I remember one day, didn’t you do like the stiff arms and stuff and I like picked you up? You up and you’re like?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:31] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:31] Ah, it was great.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:33] It was good times. Someone a fan wrote in and said, if you ever came on, could you and I do the bit? And I was like, well, it’s pretty-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:41] Kid Sister.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:41] Big Brother.

JENNA FISCHER [00:49:43] Oh, there it is.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:46] There it is. Jenna, what jokes did we have? We didn’t get along well. What was it for us?

JENNA FISCHER [00:49:50] Oh, boy.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:51] Oh, boy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:49:53] What were our bits? What were our bits? Did we have so many bits?

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:49:57] Boy, we had so many bits. You know what I remember bits wise was many different inside jokes of like writing on post-it notes in like all my memos that I had to hand to you for corporate.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:07] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:50:08] It always had something written on them.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:10] John, you played one prank on me and the whole nine years “The Office”. One like really fully formed, good, thought out prank.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:20] What?

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:20] It was at Schrute Farms and you and I had this scene where we had to drive up to the farmhouse several times and were doing it. And I am getting increasingly more hot. I’m like warm. I’m sweating. I’m-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:50:37] It was a hot day.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:41] Like, “Oh my god. It is so hot”. And we had to turn off the AC for sound. And you were like, “Yeah, I don’t know, I’m OK, but you’re hot, huh”? And I’m like, “I’m so hot”. This went on for like 15 minutes. And then all of a sudden you start snickering and you had turned on my seat warmer. All the way to the hottest setting.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:50:04] That was a late run, wasn’t it?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:05] That was late in the run and I, but I was so excited because whenever we would go on talk shows, they would always ask us if we played pranks on each other. And I would always say no. And I mean, not really. I mean, besides just like little jokes on Post-it notes or something. Not really, we weren’t pranky, you know?

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:51:19] I’m terrible, I’m terrible at pranks.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:23] But then finally, after you did that in the car, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is great. I can finally have a prank to talk about.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:51:32] You know what’s sad about that prank?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:34] What’s sad about that prank?

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:51:35] I realize that I’m such a bad prankster that I stole that prank from Clooney when we were doing “Leatherheads”. He did that to me. So that’s how unoriginal I am. I was like, I’m going to take George Clooney’s bit and do it to Jenna. And I thought that would be cool. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:53] Oh my gosh. I got a recycled prank.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:51:55] You got, you got Clooney’d, is what you got.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:57] I did, one degree of separation.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:59] I think that prank just keeps getting cooler. That’s pretty fancy.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:52:03] I think so, too. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:04] That’s a good prank. Let’s get into the meat of your interview here, John.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:52:09] I thought we were doing pretty good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:10] Oh, we were. But we should intro you a little. John, thank you so much for coming on the show. We always like to ask our guests a little bit about how they came to be on “The Office”. And I know you’ve told this story like a million times, but is it true that you were originally asked to audition for Dwight?

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:52:30] Yes, I was. And that reminds me that about six seasons into the show, someone was like, “I love how you say, Dwight”. I was like, “How do you say it”? And they were like, “Dwight”? And I was like, “I know, Dwight”. And they were like, “Nope, Dwight”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:52:42] Dwight.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:52:43] And I was like, “No, no. I’m saying, right, it’s Dwight”. And they were like, “No, no, it’s not”. So, yes, I auditioned or no. I was offered to come in and audition for the role of Dwight. And I was so excited. I had met Allison Jones randomly out in L.A. on a general meeting when I had zero dollars to my name. And she said, something’s coming on our first meeting, our only meeting, she said, something’s coming called “The Office”. You’d be great for. I said, great. So then I go back to New York and they said, there’s this show called “The Office”. And I was like, oh, my God. Allison Jones, the greatest human ever, told me about this. And they said, you’re going in for the role of Dwight. And I had been a huge fan of the British show. And I was like. I don’t know, man, that’s, that’s not I don’t know if I’m right for that role. And so I weirdly have no idea what I was thinking. I said. You know what? I read the, the pilot and I said, you know, I’m going to put my best foot forward. Let me know when they’re cast Jim. And I remember the response from the NBC casting director to my manager at the time was, no, but honestly, who does he think he is, passing up an audition, an opportunity to audition. And lo and behold, I thought it was over. And I think it was like five, six weeks later that they called and they were like, alright, they’re looking for Jims now and they’ll have you back. And then I went in, yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:01] Oh, my gosh, and that’s so crazy. And then when we finally did our screen test you, you were living in New York and you had to fly to LA for that screen test.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:54:12] With all these New Yorkers that were auditioning, which was so much fun, I remember I took the plane with Jim Gaffigan.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:18] Oh my god.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:54:18] Who was auditioning for a role. And he was like laughing. I mean, just was surrounded by heroes on the plane and then got to, got to the callback or the test or whatever they called it. And because I’m so, so experienced now, I have no idea what I’m talking about. But I remember getting in this big room and it was the waiting room of where we actually shot our pilot. I’m sure you guys covered that. But like where we shot our pilot is what they measured down to the quarter inch or centimeter to make our set. This building that exists, that we took an existing building. And I remember sitting basically where like Ryan’s desk. No, like where Mindy’s desk was, like Toby and Mindy’s desk was. I was sitting against that wall. And I saw all these other people coming in, I’d been there for like an hour or two hours and all the other people were the L.A. people. They, I realized they had separated us. And so they were asking the New York people to leave after they were done. And then I was the last New York person and I saw all these L.A. people. And I started to get super self-conscious. I am, I am not a confident person. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so embarrassing. I’m the only New Yorker here because everybody was like, “Hey Johnny, Tim” like greeting each other. And I was sitting on a floor like, so I went onto the set because all the producers were hiding in the background. And I said, “I’m so sorry. I think someone forgot to tell me to go home”. And from behind a like fake wall, I remember hearing like a lot of chair moving and stuff and like banging against the wall. And it was Greg trying to get out of this chair and find the entrance to get back on set. He was like, “No, hold on one second please. No. Hold on one second”. And I heard Terry Weinberg being like, “No, no, no, no, no. Don’t. Don’t go”. And then I went back out to the waiting room, super freaked out. And I saw Jenna walk in the door. And she was like, as soon as I saw you walk in, Jenna. I know I told this story a billion times. So people like “We get it. We’ve seen behind-the-scenes”. I, I genuinely had like a metaphysical event where I was like, oh, that’s who’s in the show. That person will be in the show. And so they held me back. You went in with a bunch of people. And I remember thinking, if I don’t go in with her, I’m screwed. And that’s when I went on the thing and said, you should let me go. And they said, no, no, no. There’s one more person we want you to audition with. And it was you. And I thought, oh, my God, you’re saying there’s a chance? Because if I’m in with you, I knew I had a shot.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:37] Oh, my God. John, I can go back to that moment that I saw you at the audition and I had that exact same reaction. I, it was, I’ve tried to describe it to people like what it was like to audition with you. And the best, like the best explanation I could come up with was like, what if you walked into a room and music started playing and you and another person just started dancing in unison even though you’ve never met? That’s what it was like auditioning with you.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:57:12] Wow. That’s really way more beautiful than what I would say, which is like I felt like I could see the future. I was like it actually gave me anxiety because I was like, she’s so on the show. It’s so weird that I’m like watching a piece get in. And I remember I’m sure you remember, too, buy when, after our audition and I loved auditioning with you, we were walking through the kitchen and I said, because that’s that was the way out. And I said, “I just got to let you know, I think that you’re gonna get this part. You’re perfect for this”. And you seem to remember you said the same thing to me. I don’t. I blacked out. I was, couldn’t even look you in the eyes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:46] I did. I was so excited I, that you said that because I felt like I had wanted to say that to you. But I didn’t have the courage because I didn’t know you. You were like essentially a stranger to me.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:57:57] First of all, how dare you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:57] The only time we had really spoken or interacted was during our audition. So we were kind of silently walking back to the kitchen. And I was thinking in my head, should I tell him I think he’s the best Jim. Is that appropriate? Should I say you’re the best Jim? You’re gonna be Jim? Or is that, is that bad form? I don’t know. What’s the etiquette? And so when you said, “I think you’re gonna get the role of Pam”, my memory is that I was like, “Oh, my God, I think you’re gonna be Jim. You’re the best, Jim. You’re my favorite Jim”. Like that I just blurted it out, just vomit.

JOHN KRASINSKI [00:58:23] Yeah, I was having a nose bleed at the time. I don’t remember much. But I do remember this, though, that, you know, I always say this and people are like, yeah, whatever. But it’s true. My, I have a lottery ticket life ever since I was given the news that I was on that show. Everything changed in my life for, in every single way, not to get into a heady version. But like, not only every opportunity that I’ve ever had is from the show. I met my wife because she knew who I was in a restaurant for a show, we never would have been in the same city or restaurant or anything. It’s just so crazy how deep and crazy it goes. But I remember at the epicenter of it all. When I was told that I had the part, I actually jumped on a couch and then like, like again, this metaphysical thing came over me where I went, “Wait wait, one second, did Jenna Fischer get the part of Pam”? And they were like, “We don’t know. We just told you your life changed. Are you happy enough with that”? And I was like, “No, you need to call them back and ask if Jenna got the part”. Because I thought you were on it, then I was gonna be on one of the best things that I’ll ever do in my life. And if they were like, no, you know, Rhonda something. Whatever. Got it. And I’d be like, no, not Rhonda.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:37] Well, when they called me and told me that I got the part, I had a very similar reaction. And the first question I asked was, “Did John Krasinski get the role of Jim”? Because I just felt like. I don’t know if I can do Pam without you as Jim. So I was like, I need to know. Did my, did my partner in crime get this part? And they were like, “Yes, he did. And what’s weird is that that’s the first question he asked after he was told, he asked if you got the part”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:00:04] Isn’t that amazing?And by the way, we never saw each other after the kitchen. I left.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:07] No, we didn’t have each other’s phone numbers. We couldn’t text each other or email. So it was like then I just waited until the pilot table read when we were all reunited. Same with Rainn. I only met Rainn at the audition and when I heard he got the role I was like, well, that tracks because he was definitely the weirdest dude.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:00:26] Oh my God. I remember thinking, I remember doing this audition with Rainn where, he had, Greg asked me to ask him to cover my phones. And of course he said to Rainn, under no circumstances will you cover his phones. And I remember being like, “Hey, Dwight, will you just cover my phone? I just gotta go to the bathroom”. And he was like, “Sorry”. And then pretended to clo se barn doors and then I asked him again. And he did like like shipping container doors and kept doing it. And by the end of it, not to Dwight, to the actor Rainn. I was like, you are infuriating. You are an infuriating human. And I was like, he’s going to get it.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:04] Oh man.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:05] Well. Oh, my gosh. It is so good to talk to you

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:07] I love all of that. All of that just makes my heart happy, you guys, hearing all that, I don’t know that I’ve, you know, I’ve heard snippets of those stories, but I’ve never heard all of it and watched you guys tell it. It is actually really beautiful, just gonna say.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:01:22] No, that’s what I was going to say. I’ve actually never told those stories with you in, I was going to say in person or not. In digital form.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:30] No, same. Same. I feel like we’ve told those stories separately on talk shows or interviews, but actually never to one another.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:01:38] Yeah, it’s like there’s always these things where you’re like is that what happened? It’s so interesting, so amazing. I have so many stories that I’m like, I wonder if people know that? It’s like some of my favorite stuff is like sort of I guess it’s secret, but I don’t know. Oh, like one of my favorite stories, did I ever tell you this story? Was when we wrapped. By the way, how dare Greg Daniels do that wrap? Remember that? When he was like, yeah, I just gotta get you guys leaving the office a couple times for I got to cut it into the earlier part of the show. We were all just totally goofing off and laughing, heading to like Poor Richard’s or something. And then when we came back, he was standing there all weird. Remember that?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:15] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:02:15] And he was like-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:16] No, when was that?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:18] At the very end.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:02:18] That was the last take of anything. And he was like, “Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to tell you that the show has concluded”, or “The Office is over”.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:24] That’s a wrap.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:02:25] That’s a wrap. And I was like, bleh. And I definitely threw up on my shoe.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:29] Someone took a picture of that moment. I don’t know who it was, but were all-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:02:32] Oh, give me that picture.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:33] We’re disintegrating. We’re like, all of us.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:02:37] It was like some weird, incredibly smart move to like just because we all knew it was coming. And then he did the smartest thing by being like, oh, shoot, I got to do this moment thing like just get out of the office, walk a couple times. I just need you to exit. I remember Randall being weird so he must have been in on it.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:54] And then when Greg came out, I remember we looked and all the crew, everyone that had been in Video Village had come out on the stage, remember? And they were all sort-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:03:03] That’s right. Yeah. And I was just like, what’s happening?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:05] We all ended like together. Like.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:03:09] It was so intense.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:10] It was so intense.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:03:12] It was like, I’m your dad and I’m leaving you. And you’re like, what? The funny thing was that day everybody was really emotional and we had the wrap party. And so everybody was like trying to get themselves together. And I think of myself as a somewhat moral person. And I had the weirdest idea when I got back to the trailer. I was crying like crazy. And I went, Oh, my God, there’s one thing I want. It’s like, what’s the one thing you would want from the show? And I ran back and stole the Dunder Mifflin sign that we all did talking heads to.

JENNA FISCHER [01:03:41] John, I remember that.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:42] I remember that.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:03:42] Dude. And then I think, I think I did tell you, Jenna, ’cause I was like so Catholic. I was like, must tell someone. And then we got to the party and I’ll never forgive myself. I don’t even know if he knows this. We’re at the party. And I saw Greg and I was like, “Greg, thank you for my whole life”, and like whatever. And he was like, “Yeah, no problem”. And I was like, “How you doing”? He was like, “Ah, good. You know, I’m a little bummed. The one thing I wanted was the Dunder Mifflin sign”, he goes, “But someone took it”. And literally, my brain exploded and I went, “That sucks, man. Whoever did that. That sucks”. I remember saying to him. I lied to my dad and lied to my TV creator.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:17] Oh, my god.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:04:18] I lied to his face.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:19] I remember you loading out your trailer and I walked it. And I have a visual of you putting it in your car.

JENNA FISCHER [01:04:25] It was very large.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:26] That’s how I knew.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:04:28] Because I only had like a bath towel and that didn’t didn’t even begin to cover it. It was just like it was the worst heist of all time. And I also remember people being like, why is John leaving so fast? I was like, “Don’t looking at me”. Like as I drove out of the parking lot. It’s so weird.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:45] Do you remember the big sign that, well, it was like a fake painting of me looking angry that hung in the senator’s house?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:04:53] Oh, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:53] The art department gave that to me.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:04:57] That’s amazing.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:57] It’s enormous. It’s the size of a small love seat sofa.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:00] If we’re sharing secrets, I’ll say that I asked if I could have Pam’s watercolor of Dunder Mifflin, and I was told officially from production that I could not have it because it was gonna be cataloged as part of like the set decoration and it would be stored at NBC. And no, I couldn’t have it. I was really heartbroken because besides a couple of trinkets on my desk and like a few pieces of wardrobe, I really hadn’t saved anything else. That was really the one thing I wanted. And oh, my gosh, I’m gonna cry a little bit. As I was leaving, Phil Shea ran up to me and he said, “Here, you should have this. I made a color photo of it. They’ll never know”. I have the original in my house.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:05:52] Oh, my God, that’s amazing. Dude, Phil Shea is the reason I have anything. He sent me a box like years, like three or four years later. My bag. My name’s plate.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:06] That satchel that you would carry?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:06:07] Yeah, my satchel, my nameplate and the teapot, bro.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:17] You have the teapot.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:19] You have the teapot.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:06:19] Teapot, son.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:20] Son of a gun.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:22] Wow. You have it.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:06:23] Oh man, I though you knew that? I thought, I didn’t know it was a great caper.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:28] She has said I have always wondered who got the teapot.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:29] Who got that teapot? I’ve always wondered.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:06:31] You know what’s so funny is I had the greatest idea because I heard your amazing podcast about the Teapot episode and I was gonna take a picture of it in my room and totally forgot. I wanted to, like, post it right after I had heard your episode.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:45] Oh, my gosh that would have blown my mind.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:47] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:06:48] I’m sure there’s a couple, because in case any one broke, you could probably get one, I’m sure.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:52] I know. But you have the teapot.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:55] That’s huge.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:56] So there you go. So, John, we are currently on the scene outside in the parking lot. Where Jim?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:07:05] Oh boy.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:06] Oh boy.

JENNA FISCHER [01:07:06] Yeah. Roy just took off in his truck.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:07:08] Yep, and told me to keep an eye on you. Remember that?

JENNA FISCHER [01:07:12] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:13] Jenna’s dressed as a bridesmaid. Jenna looks like a bridesmaid.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:07:17] I remember talking to Jenna about this a couple times about how like how, Jenna’s take on it was like, or for Pam’s take or whatever, she was like little saucy of Jim to be like “you got it”. Like little devious, right from the beginning, like this nice guy was like, “Oh you bet”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:07:32] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:32] I’ll take over.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:07:34] Oh, I’ll take care of her. No, I remember that, that, that moment in particular was insane for so many reasons, because I remember how, again, we keep talking about this like metaphysical thing, but I remember that like the cells of my body were really buzzing because I saw the crew like running around and deciding where to hide the cameras. And Ken Kwapis was our director and was phenomenal and making it feel like it’s no big deal. We’re just doing a scene of a show that will never be seen. And then you’re like, I think it’s going to be more than that. He’s like, “Who cares? Just do it”. Like he was trying to, like, keep it so low.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:15] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:08:15] And  I remember you and I were in like a stairwell or something waiting.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:19] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:08:19] And everybody was deciding, do you do the cameras-? Can they see the cameras? Can they not see the cameras? Meaning Jim and Pam. Can they see the cameras or whatever? Are they aware of the documentary crew? And I remember, I think it was Ken, right? Who just said, I think, I’m going to make the decision that they don’t. And I remember Matt, I think, I think I remember this, again, I’m elderly, but I feel like. I feel like Ken placed the cameras and didn’t tell us exactly where they were going to be.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:50] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:08:50] That sounds like Ken.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:51] Well, there was this big argument that went back to even when the script came out, which was should we film the scene with video or with audio only? Like this-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:03] Right, right, yes.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:03] Idea. And I think the reason we were in a stairwell for a very long time, John, was because they were deciding if we should have walked inside and gone on to the stairwell. And we said the lines. And right when we got to the end of the scene, the camera would find us and we would be looking at each other in silence.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:22] Yes. The idea was that Randall would be running to try to get it on film.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:26] Yes. And that was kind of like, Greg wanted that. And half the writers wanted that.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:32] That’s genius by the way.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:32] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:32] Imagine how good the show could have been if that was the case.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:35] I know, but-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:38] We could have succeeded.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:39] But then and on, by the way, on Wikipedia, it claims that we shot that footage and it has never been seen. But that’s not true. We never shot that. We only rehearsed it. I don’t remember ever shooting a version. Do you?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:09:53] Yeah, I thought we rehearsed it. And then I thought, what I do remember maybe vaguely is that Ken was like and if we do that version, we’ll have the audio. So don’t worry about it. You remember? Like I remember Ken, I think was saying to Greg, like, listen, Greg, the good news is if we do end up going that route, we will already have the audio. Let’s just shoot it out here first. And it was like a Jedi mind trick to get Greg to go with it.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:16] Right. But I do remember that they did-. Another reason we were in the stairwell was so that they were gonna set the cameras outside. And when we came out, we wouldn’t know where the cameras were.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:10:29] Right, that’s right.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:29] And I remember feeling very alone in the parking lot.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:10:33] Well, again, because all the crews I kind of buzzy about it and like, “Hello”. And like what? Like all our great friends that I would like be, I remember I was at the craft service table, not for this scene, but the next scene. And it’s like I remember going like, you know, “Hey, Chris”, we were like in fancy football, one of my favorite people, Chris. Chris Workman. And I was like, “Hey, Chris”. And he was like, “Hello, John”. And then like moved and I was like, whoa, I don’t think he’s ever used the full word “Hello” ever. That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard. Everybody was so buzzed up about that. I don’t remember this, Jenna, do you have any semblance of an idea of how many takes that we did? Because I remember genuinely being extremely nervous, which I was like. This will be great for the scene because I think it was probably or at least I probably interpreted it as the biggest scene I had done on the show or something to that level of, that level of intensity was like super terrifying to me. And I remember in my head being like, “Hey, bro, remember when you thought you were an actor? Tonight ruins that whole mirage”. And-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:38] Oh, hardly.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:11:39] And I was so, I was so nervous to do that scene, but actually watching it again today. It was really amazing because we were like kind of standing close to each other and it was like, it was all very awkward and perfect. It’s so good.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:53] I wrote in my journal, “Oh, my God. John Krasinski. And that tear. Oh, my God”. I have it, I’m going to screengrab it and send it to, John.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:12:03] Please.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:12:04] Oh, my God. You wrecked us. You wrecked me. Oh, you were so good. Both you guys were so good.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:12:11] I think I also remember Ken being such a good director, was like, “You know. So in this scene, how you feeling? And you know, how you feeling”? And, and I was like, “Yeah. Good. I said, you know, I’m going to be really honest with you, Ken. This is this is a lay-up for me, bro, because I lived it”. And he was like, “What do you mean”? And I was like, “Dude, in my high school yearbook, I had every single girl in the school being like, thank you so much. You were the shoulder to cry on. You were such a good friend when I was in love with Adam, like all this stuff”.  And I was like, “No problem”. So then when he was like, “Hey, do a scene about the love of your life, having another guy instead of you”. And I was like, “Bro, it’s called my default setting”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:12:56] Well, I, I remember shivering because I was freezing. It was really cold out. And I was in that little dress and-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:13:04] Yeah, that desert night, that desert night will get you.

JENNA FISCHER [01:13:06] It was chilly. And I also. So here here was something that, I traded some messages with Ken Coppice about this scene. And he reminded me that we had actually filmed the kiss the night before that.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:13:21] What?

JENNA FISCHER [01:13:21] Yeah. We filmed the kiss the day before. And that this was the very final thing we shot for “Casino Night”. It took longer than any other scene. We spent more time on it than any other scene. And we played around with the dialog. So I have the script, too. And what’s in the script is a little different. And the thing is, is that, that’s my memory. I remember. When I think back the scene we were most nervous about was this scene, and people always ask about the kiss, but this was the scene we worked hardest on. And it makes sense to me. Saying “I’m in love with you” is such a vulnerable thing and you do it so honestly, John, and I also remember that those lines where I was saying like, “Oh, do you want me to take your money now? Or I could take it later or when do-“, that was all banter that we came up with on the spot. That you were going to, then like shock me out of. And then I remember. That stuff, that line where you said, when I’m like, “I’m really sorry if you misinterpreted our friendship” and you’re like, “Don’t”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:14:32] Oh yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:14:32] When you said “Don’t”, that was an improv and I like, my stomach, like my heart dropped into my stomach. I was like, “Oh, God, I’m so sorry”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:14:47] That’s what I loved. It’s like, you’re doing this as Pam and as Jenna, you’re like, “So sorry, bro. That was really rude. That was pretty mean”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:14:53] I was. Like everything, like I was having to be Pam, but on the inside, I was like, “I’m so sorry”. Because you were, you know, and you, you cried in a couple of the takes. I remember. But the one that they used I think was the first time. Like because it was so, it wrecked to me. It wrecked me. And I was like, my job is just to stand here and stare at him. And after they yelled, cut, I feel like I was like, “I’m sorry, oh my god. I’m terrible”.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:15:27] There you are saying telling us now that you were there being like, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry”. And watching it back today. I was like “she’s as cold as ice”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:15:36] She’s so cold hearted.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:15:36] That was cold blooded. That was so-.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:15:40] It was cold. But I also think Pam was just like, and listen, John, I always defend Jim like throughout our podcast. When anything that happens, I’m like, Pam is horrible. Poor Jim.

JENNA FISCHER [01:15:52] She does.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:15:53] But in this moment. I really saw her as just-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:15:55] Totally.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:15:56] She completely was deer in headlights. Like it was like everything was so real now. And once it’s out there, it is out there, you know? And all of a sudden she’s going to have to be accountable.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:16:07] Yes. I felt the same way watching it back. I was like, because I remember it differently. I remember like there were like three more moments in “Casino Night” of us flirting and then. When, when my man turns around and is like, “I want to tell you something”. I was like, not so  fast. Even me was like, “Hey man, that is bad game. Stop”. You know what it, though, the scene that I loved was and I realized it didn’t come out of the blue is because of Jan.

JENNA FISCHER [01:16:32] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:16:32] When she goes, “Did you tell anybody”? And I was like, right. He has to tell her now because he can never do it again. It’s, that was, that was awesome. Such good writing. Who are those people?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:16:41] Such-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:16:41] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:16:42] Also just like so kind. Like I feel like our, like Greg and Ken like they were so gracious to let us have room to find those moments, you know? Like they really let you guys play around.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:16:54] But man did they write the goods right from the beginning. Like-.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:16:55] Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:16:56] We didn’t need a lot of room after that. It was just so, but for those moments they were so respectful. So. Which again leads to the second part which is. Sorry I’m jumping on your interview.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:17:05] No, no, no.

JENNA FISCHER [01:17:06] No, no. Well, I.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:17:07] Do it. Do it.

JENNA FISCHER [01:17:07] I’ll move us along. But I wanted to say one more thing, which was when I was watching it back, I was like, what does Pam think Roy is secretly taping her or something? Like she seemed like a spy who was like, “I am very sorry, but I am loyal to Roy Anderson. I can’t do this. You are a wonderful friend to me”. But it obviously was impacting her because we’re going to move in to the bullpen and she goes up and calls our mom.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:17:34] To complement your acting, though, that, I mean, that has got to be my favorite thing on any performance is when it’s exactly what you imagined it would be. Right? Because in the movies and TV, you’re like, we’ve been programed as kids to say that when someone says I love you, when you’re sort of with someone else, you go, “Excuse me. How dare you”, and this whole dramatic thing. But instead, your brain just like, “Run the program, shut him down”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:17:59] Yes.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:17:59] Like there’s no emotion.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:18:00] Mayday, mayday, escape.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:02] Exactly.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:02] Yes.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:03] Exactly. Pull a cord, pull the cord.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:06] Should we talk about the big old kiss? It’s not even a big kiss. It’s a little kiss. But it’s the perfect kiss.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:18:13] It was substantial.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:15] It was also my first kiss. First kiss I ever had acting. That was my first acting kiss ever.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:18:19] Mine was with Dwight.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:20] It was my second.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:22] Now that I say that, I’m wondering when else I would have had the opportunity. But like, no, no college play kissing. No nothing. There was nothing.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:30] Wow. That was your first onscreen kiss?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:18:32] That wasn’t yours, Jenna?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:33] My first fake kiss.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:35] It was my second. I had done a movie called “Born Champion” and I had a kiss scene in that. It was a SAG low budget. I think maybe a nonunion film. So I was, I was one kiss more experienced than John. I was.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:18:50] Which is a lot.

JENNA FISCHER [01:18:51] I was so nervous. And here is something that Ken Kwapis reminded me, John. He said, let me find it. It was so sweet. Ken said, “I remember the day we did the kissing scene. You and John were off the charts nervous”. And he said he felt like it was his job to be really casual about the scene, to kind of undercut how momentous it was. And I remember that he was being super casual about it, but he said. But what didn’t help was that on the shooting schedule, this team description read “JIM KISSES PAM!!!” In all caps, italics and three exclamation points.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:19:30] This is what we train for people. You’re like, OK. Geez. Calm down

ANGELA KINSEY [01:19:34] Calm down.

JENNA FISCHER [01:19:34] That’s such a fun detail.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:19:37] And I think probably the crew was given the notice of like, guys, keep it cool. Let’s not mess this up because that’s when Chris Workman was like holding a, you know, a plate of like peanut butter pretzels or something, and was like, “Hello John” and then like, walked away. And I was like, Chris, what the hell was that? But I also remember you were in your trailer for a while, and I thought you were upset because I was on, I was on stage all the time because I was usually around crafty. And, and I had heard that you were in your trailer and I was like, is everything okay? And I didn’t know what was happening. And then I remember again, similarly, they told me that they were ready. And when we, when I got on set, I was first on set, at how I remember at least, I was first on set and was looking for Randall and Matt because I used to goof around with those guys. And weirdly, my default setting is like make jokes when you’re nervous. So I was looking for them and I was genuinely crestfallen when I couldn’t find them because then I was really nervous, ’cause I was like, Oh my God. But, if my, if my bit machine bit isn’t going to work, then what do we do? And then they like, “John, so you’re going to go to the front door” and I was like, “Front door. What’s happening”? And I got so, then I got so weirded out and then someone came. I don’t know if it, was Jasmine was on yet, but I don’t know, I think it was Jas came up and was like “And John, go”. And I was like you, I just remember like a person being like, “And go”. And it was like, I was in slow motion. I was like, “Do what”? And I just went on and, it was so weird.

JENNA FISCHER [01:21:07] Well, I remember rehearsing, I’m going to put that in quotes. I remember discussing the scene in the days prior.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:21:15] For sure.

JENNA FISCHER [01:21:15] I had a bunch of meetings with Greg and you and Ken where we all talked about it, like how big should the kiss be? I remember asking how much does Pam kiss him back? We discussed that she would definitely allow herself to be kissed. And then. But did she really, like, kiss him back? How long should it go on, like just sort of general chitty chat-ness about how it would play out. And then I remember on the day doing a very rough blocking of it, but alone, like when you were like, what is she doing in her trailer? They had brought me to set to rehearse by myself. This is where you’re gonna stand at Jim’s desk. There was a big discussion. Why am I not standing at reception? It was because it would be too hard for you to get to me. They wanted to put the camera in the kitchen so that we couldn’t see it, would, they would shoot it through the blinds. It would be super secret spy shot. And that was the best position. We worked out exactly how I would stand with the phone. And then they said, now we want you to go back to your trailer and not leave until you’re called.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:22:18] Oh, wow.

JENNA FISCHER [01:22:19] And don’t speak to John and just be alone. And so it was super secret.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:22:27] Yes. They they talk about this in the DVD commentary, guys. I wasn’t there, but I listened to the DVD commentary and they wanted to keep you guys apart. That’s.

JENNA FISCHER [01:22:37] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:22:37] That’s something that they were talking about.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:22:39] My favorite thing is, like I’m reminiscing about it now with you and I remember one time talking to Brian about it years later. And I was like, “Ah man, I remember that was the last thing we shot that day”. And he goes, “No, it was not”. And I was like, “What are you talking about”? And he goes, “We were all in our trailers like, ‘oh god, let’s go, move it along’”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:22:57] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:22:59] We were, we were in our trailers for like three hours. Like, I took a nap, someone was like, what’s happening?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:05] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:05] My memory is that that was the last thing we did that day.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:09] Me, too.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:10] And we could take as much time as we wanted.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:12] And Brian was like 1000% not, all of us were in our trailers being like, you gotta be kidding me with these two.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:18] Oh, no. Oh, no. I thought it was the end of the day. We had all the time in the world.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:24] That’s what I said to Brian.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:24] Oh my goodness.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:23:27] No, he’s right. But I don’t know you guys. It was such an important scene. They had to find it. And in the commentary, they talk about how they wanted the first time that John, as Jim saw Pam was in that moment, on action.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:42] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:23:43] That they-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:43] So we never rehearsed it on the stage together. And then I remember they brought me to set and all the lights were dim. There was no one around. It was super eerie.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:54] Yeah, that was creepy. It was so-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:56] There was no crew.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:56] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:57] Nothing.

JENNA FISCHER [01:23:58] And they were like-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:23:59] “John, please move to the entrance”. I was like, who is that? Is that the Devil?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:24:03] I like in your mind, John, it’s like slow down, you’re like-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:24:07] Yeah, but it’s like super scary. Like weird.

JENNA FISCHER [01:24:10] And then Ken, I think and Greg were hiding maybe in the conference room in the very back corner with a little thing like a little.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:24:20] Handheld.

JENNA FISCHER [01:24:21] I don’t know what is the? Like a handheld video monitor that they could see what the camera shooting. We only used one camera. It was only the camera in the kitchen. So it was a one shot. There was no way to cut. We had to get it all in one shot. And I remember I’m doing the bit with my mom on the phone. And then you walked in and we shot the kiss and then we’re staring at each other. And Ken said, cut. And do you remember Greg? Do you remember Greg running out of the conference room like clapping his hands?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:01] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:01] Do you remember that? He was like-.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:02] He was giddy .

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:03] So excited. Yes. Yes.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:06] He was like, “It was so good, it was so good”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:06] It was so good.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:07] How many takes of that did we do?

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:09] Three.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:25:11] Greg-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:11] We only did three.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:25:12] Greg in the DVD commentary said that he, I’m sorry, I wrote it down. Greg said he picked the last take. The last take was his favorite.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:20] Oh, interesting.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:23] Nice.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:24] Well, Ken Kwapis and Kent Zbornak, both confirm we only did three takes of the scene. And Ken said that Greg wanted to keep doing it over and over and over again. And Ken had to convince him that we had it.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:39] Wow.

JENNA FISCHER [01:25:39] But Greg was like, it’s just so good. It’s just so good. And he wanted to keep doing it. And. And Ken was like, no, we’re gonna wear ’em out. We’re gonna wear ’em out.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:49] That’s obviously where the voice was coming from. I imagine, Greg, just being like, “Dance for me”. And you’re like, “What”? You can’t say that. What the?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:25:55] Awkward.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:25:56] That’s so weird.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:25:57] There’s one other thing in the DVD commentary, you guys, I thought was really cool. Is that Randall Einhorn said that he really wanted it to end so that you couldn’t see Pam’s face. So you never knew what her reaction was after that.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:26:12] Yes, that’s right.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:26:12] So that was really thought out that Jenna you never looked around and like you were facing this one way and camera never saw your face after the kiss.

JENNA FISCHER [01:26:21] Yeah. That was part of what he argued for only using one camera. That there was some discussion that another camera would come around by the front door and capture Pam’s side of everything and sneak in. But he was like, no, I think we only managed to get one shot of this.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:26:40] So you don’t you know. Yeah.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:26:42] That is amazing.

JENNA FISCHER [01:26:43] Crazy.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:26:42] It was beautiful. You guys. You guys crushed it.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:26:46] Guys, this was the most fun ever. To talk about this.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:26:48] Yeah. I mean-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:26:49] It’s fun to reminisce.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:26:50] You guys, guys, congratulations on this podcast. It is so much fun. And I don’t think that two other people could have done it. You guys did such a good job.

JENNA FISCHER [01:26:58] You’re so nice.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:00] John, thank you. Thanks so much.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:00] I don’t know if there’s two people from our show who like talking as much as us.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:05] Do you remember how Rainn-?

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:06] Who talk constantly to one another.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:27:08] Right now, Brian’s at home going like, “We know that’s true” You’re like, “Brian, geez. Settle down”.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:11] Geez. Do you remember how Rainn would make fun of us? He would say, “There they go bock bick bick bick”. Like he would be like.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:18] Yeah. Rainn would be like, “What more could you possibly have to say to one another, my god”?

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:27:25] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:26] Our curmudgeon.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:26] Our curmudgeon.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:28] Thank you, John.

JOHN KRASINSKI [01:27:29] I love you both so much. Thank you so much for doing-, thanks for having me.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:31] We love you, John. Thanks for coming on.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:36] That was so great. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:40] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:40] Thank you, John.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:41] John Krasinski, you’re the best.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:44] He is the best.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:45] He is the best.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:47] He is the best. But Jenna, before we say goodbye. There are one or two moments that fans wrote in about. We have to talk about the phone call between Pam and her mom.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:57] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:27:57] We have to talk about this moment.

JENNA FISCHER [01:27:58] Yes. We got so much mail about this. Erin Louise, Matt Loveless, Mrs. Prince, Breanna and E.J.. They all wanted to know if there was another side to this phone call.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:12] Mmhmm.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:13] Well, I’ll tell you this, guys. There was no one on the other line.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:17] Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:18] I was just pretending.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:20] Jenna! And the Emmy goes to Jenna Fischer.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:23] Wow, thank you.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:23] My god, that’s some good phone talk, lady.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:27] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:28] No one was there.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:29] No one was there. I invented in my head what the dialog was.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:34] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:35] And I had written it down in my script for what I thought my mom was saying to me so that I would have good reactions. And I was going through it in my head as I was doing the scene.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:28:47] That’s me applauding my BFF.

JENNA FISCHER [01:28:49] Oh my gosh, thank you. So there was one line in particular that everyone honed in on, which is when Pam says, “Yeah, I think I am”.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:00] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:01] What was she responding to?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:03] I mean, I know what I thought. I think I know what all the fans think.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:07] What do you think?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:08] “I think I am in love with him”.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:10] That is what I had written in my script that my mom asked me, “Well, sweetie, are you in love with him”?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:17] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:18] And that I answered, “Yeah, mom, I think I am”.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:22] Oof.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:22] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:23] Oh, Pam.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:24] And then we got a fan question. A lot of people actually ask this question. Alissa Dunn, Carrie Harvey and more wanted to know if we knew what the next season would bring to the Jim Pam storyline when we shot those scenes in the parking lot and in the in the office.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:43] Right.

JENNA FISCHER [01:29:44] No, we did not. We were not told what would happen to them. It was a cliffhanger to the cast as well.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:29:53] I have to think that Greg probably had a few ideas and didn’t want to tell us anything until that would become more concrete for him what the plan was. You know? I would think.

JENNA FISCHER [01:30:04] I think he had an idea that they were gonna have Jim go to Stanford.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:30:09] Well, yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:30:10] But a few weeks before we went back into production for the Season 3, I did get called in to do a bunch of chemistry read auditions with possible Karens.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:30:21] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:30:22] And that was my first insight into what was gonna happen in Season 3.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:30:28] Oh, that’s juicy. That would have been, that, that’s like good intel back then because we were all clueless. We didn’t know what was gonna happen. I think another cliffhanger is, you know, obviously the Dwight Angela, what’s happening with them. But then also what’s going to happen with Jan and Michael? Because you see that Jan actually did pack an overnight bag in her car.

JENNA FISCHER [01:30:48] Yes. Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:30:50] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:30:50] As she’s leaving the camera, finds this overnight bag. She was 100 percent planning to hook up with Michael.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:30:58] Yeah. And just sleep over at his place, which is a big deal. Well, I did hear in the DVD commentary that it was this episode that Melora Hardin and David Denman became series regulars. So we knew that they were going to be coming back, but we didn’t know how.

JENNA FISCHER [01:31:15] Wow. There we go.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:31:17] There we go, guys, that was a big, big episode. We hope you enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed getting to watch it again and talk to John and all the cast members we texted and Kent-apedia, thank you so much for giving us such great behind the scenes moments.

JENNA FISCHER [01:31:33] Yes. And guys, after we did that interview with John, Angela and I were a part of his show, “Some Good News”.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:31:40] It was so much fun. First of all, my family and I are such huge fans of “Some Good News”. We’ve watched every episode. And what John is doing, the goodness he’s putting out there is so wonderful. And Jenna, wasn’t it a blast?

JENNA FISCHER [01:31:52] It was so much fun. If you guys haven’t seen it, you have to check it out. There’s this couple, their names are John and Susan Lush. They’re from Maryland. And when they got engaged, they reenacted Jim and Pam’s engagement at the gas station. But then because of the pandemic, their May wedding was canceled. So John surprised them.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:32:12] We might have recreated the dance down the aisle from Jim and Pam’s wedding. And it was just so much fun and such a wonderful thing to be a part of.

JENNA FISCHER [01:32:21] Yeah. The thing that John is doing with that. It’s just, it’s great. He’s bringing some light and love to the world. And John, we love you. We love you.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:32:29] And you guys, we will see you next week with can you believe it? The first episode of Season Three.

JENNA FISCHER [01:32:37] “Gay Witch Hunt”. Can you believe we’re on Season 3, Angela?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:32:40] I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. And thank you guys so much for being along with us for the ride. We will see you  next week, Season three.

JENNA FISCHER [01:32:51] Thank you for listening to “Office Ladies”. “Office Ladies” is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Codi Fischer, our producer is Cassi Jerkins and our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:33:00] And our theme song is “Rubber Tree” by Creed Bratton.

JENNA FISCHER [01:33:04] For ad free versions of the show go to StitcherPremium.com. For free one month trial of Stitcher Premium use code “Office”.